A Story of Evil

Chapter 25: The Maze V

"Sol, we're going to take some food now, right?"

Ethan asked this question as soon as they arrived within the neutral area. The amount of time that they walked was no joke after all. In fact, it took them nearly two hours just to get to the golem on the second level.

"Okay, but I'll be the one choosing our food." Sol said, finally getting Ethan's approval for the first time within the maze.

Sol was sure that the food inside the maze was real. If all the items that were being given at the neutral rounds were supposed to help them survive then, meals needed to offer the nutritional value which was really within them.

"Here, everyone eat up." He said, handing the food to Ethan first.

"Solthis is a joke, right?" Ethan asked as if almost about to cry.

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"But Sol"

The food which Sol took was something only provided for in the [Culling]. It was a nutritional snack called [Eden]. The name was taken from the Garden of Eden itself but, how the food looked like was nowhere near savory. These were simply crackers placed on cloth wrappers.

"We got a hundred biscuits from this Ethan. The steak that you've been salivating on ever since the first neutral round will only get us through one eating."

"But we could just share one steak then eat the rest when needed!"

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"Share? Do you even know how low the nutritional value is on those things? It's not even a balanced meal and what are you talking about later? There won't be a later Ethan, the raw steak would definitely expire in a few hours and then what?"

Once again Sol was right and, Ethan was left looking stupid. Alice and Peter smiled and Jake simply tapped the shoulder of his buddy who began munching on the nutritious crackers.

"We'll also be needing this. Drink up." Sol said, throwing a water container to Alice.

[Name: Cleansing Flask]

[Information: Water placed inside the container will automatically be purified. Due to the small amount of space crystal placed within the contained, it could store up to 4 liters of water.]

"Don't you need to drink?" Alice asked.

"I can do that after all of you take a sip."

With this, the group was finally able to eat. There was still no indicator on the maze. On how long it would drag on and on how many levels there would be. But from the first two levels alone, Sol already figured that it wasn't a place for the mentally weak.

The first level could easily induce panic on a person. Making them disregard all the signs presented within the level and outright run until there was no ground left. Meanwhile, the second level's objective took too long to reach. The area walked on was also peaceful because of the trees and the chirping of the birds. The two of these factors combined could create a calming effect on those who needed to kill the golem. This may lead to thinking that, the only thing needed was to circle around the monster which, would've instantly led to death.

"Is this to awaken that [Solomon's Wisdom] the king was talking about?" Sol thought to himself. Picking up a [Double Dagger] a [Rune Barrier Crystal] and a [Shovel]. With the last item being once again questionable to Ethan. But he didn't ask anymore knowing that, for whatever reason, Solomon always had a logical explanation for his choices.

"ETHAN!" Peter shouted, getting the water flask that was empty.

"What? We've all drank already, right?" He knew that Sol hasn't taken a sip yet. It was intended to irritate Sol yet the boy simply sighed.

"It's fine, we can get more water on the other side." Sol calmly said, he was actually really thirsty but there was no use crying over spilled milk. So he just went through the door without a hint of the emotion that Ethan wanted to produce.

The first thing that happens every time they transferred areas was getting enveloped by light. They would then begin hearing faintly what the next level offered. That time around, Sol heard the crashing of waves to the shores and, just as the light dissipated they finally got a clear view of the area.

[Welcome to the third level of the maze.]

There was an ocean in front of them and, even before they could analyze the whole terrain, they heard war cries and the continuous stomping of feet. They all turned their heads and immediately saw a horde of [Pirate Goblins] running towards them.

"Peter the daggers and smokescreen."

"Right!" As always Jake and Ethan were already on the run, going towards the shore while Peter was doing his best not to get scared by the overwhelming number of enemies.

"Alice!" Sol said, throwing the daggers to the twelve-year-old girl.

"Seriously?" She mentioned and, with Sol's nod she said.

"You owe me two now."

Sol threw the smoke screen in front of the enemies, taking away their vision. In that moment, Alice began to strike. Just like the monsters, Alice's vision was obscured but, because of the [Analysis] feature, she could see the details of the enemies who were close, although all she could see through the smoke were vague images.

Alice seemed like she was dancing through the battlefield, making one strike after the other. With how light she was and how nimbly she moved, there wasn't even any time for the poorly coordinated goblins to fight back.

Adding to this were her physical abilities which was one thing she topped Solomon on. While Sol survived the fifty levels of Pandora's Box mostly through his wit, Alice was able to do so with her quick movements and exceptional battle sense.

One by one the enemies fell to her blades. With the smokescreen dispersing quickly, Sol and Peter also joined in on the fight.

"Bash them with your shield then hit them with the sword." Sol commanded as the two of them took the said weapons from the fallen goblins. This led both Jake and Ethan to follow suit, not wanting to be labeled as the cowards of the group.

Because of the combined efforts of the five, they were able to take down the number of goblins, with two being able to flee. This took them half an hour's worth of time and, as they finished, everyone slumped to the ground.

"D-did you see that? I w-was amazing." Ethan mentioned through heavy and rugged breaths. He wasn't the only one exhausted though. All of them were.

"Sol why don't you sit down for a minute." Peter said but, he refused to do so.

For some reason, Sol knew that if he sat down, he would immediately lose consciousness. His vision was getting blurry and his chest felt heavy and cold. There was a ringing on his ear that continued getting louder but through it all, Sol tried thinking of the situation.

"Sol?" Alice said, starting to feel that there was something wrong with him.

Solomon was thinking about everything that came to play at that moment. The goblins had bandanas on their shoulders and, as Sol looked at these, he noticed one thing. They had similar symbols. There was a gigantic ship near the shores and, another one stuck in between large pillars of rock, with its bottom almost reaching the waters. Sol was slowly getting the details together but as he turned to tell it to his team, the boy lost consciousness.

"SOL!"

"What the hell man? What happened to him?" Jake asked, feeling worried all of a sudden.

"It must be from exhaustion. We've been doing the maze for nearly three hours now and, all the thinking was largely focused on Solomon. His body was probably at its limit and got shocked by the sudden need to exert full effort."

"B-but why did he collapse?"

"Do you even need to ask Ethan?" Alice sarcastically replied, gazing angrily at the person in question.

"What theWhat did I do?"

"He's probably dehydrated Ethan." Alice said, still staring at the person who drank all the water from the flask.

"How is that my fault!" Peter tapped Ethan's shoulder, telling him to stop.

"We need to get him to some shade. He's probably gonna recover a few minutes from now so I'll take command for the time being." Peter said, with everyone agreeing to the temporary shift of command.

"Jake get as much water as you can from the ocean and put it in our flask. I'll be carrying Sol while, Alice and Ethan, you two will be our lookouts got it?" Everyone nodded and, with that, they proceeded to entering the island's forest.

The one thing Sol was supposed to warn them about.